A second round of layoffs hit WGN-Ch. 9 this week, with three creative services employees getting the ax Wednesday, including Debbie Brockman, the producer whose aggressive detainment by ICE agents in October became a symbol of urban enforcement clashes.
Brockman, a 15-year employee at WGN, rose to national fame after a video captured her being forced to the ground, handcuffed and placed in a van by federal immigration agents while on her way to work at the station from her Lincoln Square home.
She was released later the same day with no charges, according to the station.
Brockman did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The layoffs Wednesday, which were confirmed by multiple sources familiar with the situation, also included a recently hired art director. In addition, three other creative services employees were reassigned to a new regional hub in Nashville, said the sources.
Gary Weitman, a spokesperson for Dallas-based Nexstar Media, which owns WGN and more than 200 TV stations nationwide – and may soon get a lot bigger through a pending merger – declined to comment on the latest layoffs at WGN.
Eight veteran reporters and anchors were laid off Monday in a massive newsroom downsizing at WGN: Sean Lewis, Ray Cortopassi, Bronagh Tumulty, Judy Wang, Julian Crews, Paul Lisnek, Chris Boden and Dean Richards.
Last week, the WGN newsroom lost meteorologist Mike Janssen, whose contract was not renewed.
On-air layoffs also took place Monday at KTLA in Los Angeles and other Nexstar TV stations across the country. Creative services workers were also laid off at other Nexstar stations this week as the company consolidates operations, sources said.
But the carnage has been heaviest at “Chicago’s Very Own” WGN, which has been downsizing staff for several months.
Six WGN newswriters were laid off and three technical director positions were eliminated last month. In October, four floor director positions were eliminated as well, according to the sources.
Nexstar Media bought WGN-Ch. 9 in 2019 as part of its $4.1 billion acquisition of Chicago-based Tribune Media — the former broadcast parent of Tribune Publishing — creating the nation’s largest local TV station group and moving WGN’s TV, radio and cable stations under the Dallas company’s ownership.
In August, Nexstar reached a deal to buy rival TV station owner Tegna for $6.8 billion, a pending megamerger that will require the Federal Communications Commission to lift a 39% national TV audience ownership cap to win approval.
During an earnings call Thursday, Perry Sook, the chairman and CEO of Nexstar, said the deal for Tegna is on track to close by the end of second quarter.
“The rationale for the Nexstar-Tegna combination is becoming increasingly clear. Consolidation is accelerating across the broader media industry,” Sook said. “Our transaction represents a pivotal and critical opportunity to establish a framework for local television broadcasters to more effectively compete with big tech and with big media, while strengthening our ability to deliver high quality local journalism to our communities.”
The creation of a new “framework” for local television at the growing Nexstar chain has already cost nearly two dozen WGN employees their jobs, with Brockman the latest casualty.
Brockman had worked as a creative services producer for WGN since 2011. In October, she went from behind-the-scenes to the other side of the camera when a bystander filmed her being taken to the ground face down on Foster Avenue and handcuffed while stopped cars honked and onlookers shouted epithets such as “fascists” at two federal agents detaining her. The incident occurred during the height of Operation Midway Blitz, when street confrontations between citizens and federal agents targeting “criminal illegal aliens” in the Chicago area were frequent.
During the detention, a clearly distressed Brockman identified herself as working at WGN and asked an onlooker taking a video to “let them know” before she was hauled off by the agents in an unmarked silver van.
Brockman, a U.S. citizen, was detained for seven hours by federal immigration authorities before being released without charges.
A few days after the incident, Brockman retained a Chicago attorney who issued a news release saying they intended to “pursue all legal avenues available” to hold federal authorities accountable. The Tribune was unable to find a record of such a lawsuit being filed in federal court. Brockman’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com